Barry Ptolemy

Partner and Head of original content at Therapy Studios

Culver City, California, United States

About

BARRY PTOLEMY is a 25 year veteran to the entertainment industry, having produced, written or directed dozens of high profile projects. He is most famous for his film Transcendent Man, on the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil. The film was heralded by a TIME cover story the week it was released and it went on to become a global sensation earning him a Jury prize nomination at the Tribeca International Film Festival and won him the top 10 documentaries of the year prize by the IDA. In addition, the film was inducted into the ACADEMY COLLECTION at AMPAS. Barry has attracted some of the biggest names in the world to his productions, such as Vice President Al Gore, William Shatner, Bill Maher, Quincy Jones, Elon Musk, Ray Kurzweil, Suzanne Sommers, Florence Henderson, Steve Wozniak, Colin Powell, Michio Kaku, Deepak Chopra and many more. Barry has appeared on Charlie Rose and has spoken at TED. He is also appeared as an expert on accelerating technologies on CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and HUFF POST live, Big Think and Voice of America to name just a few. Barry has lectured at Google, Singularity University and many other tech companies.

Experience

  • Partner/Creator/EP at Therapy Studios
    Jan 2019 - Present · 7 yrs 6 mos

    Executive Producer

  • Executive Producer at National Geographic Partners
    Jun 2017 - Jan 2018 · 8 mos

    Creator and Showrunner of "Afterlife" for the Nat Geo channel.

  • Creator, Executive Producer at Showtime Networks Inc.
    Mar 2013 - Dec 2015 · 2 yrs 10 mos

    Creator and Showrunner for the TV show "Ray Kurzweil Presents Our Future" from concept through pilot development.

  • Executive Producer at AOL
    Feb 2013 - Dec 2013 · 11 mos

    Showrunner for the original 8 part series on AOL starring Jason Silva which has been critically acclaimed and watched by millions

  • Creator, Director and Producer of the film TRANSCENDENT MAN at TRANSCENDENT MAN, LLC
    Jan 2006 - Aug 2011 · 5 yrs 8 mos

    Transcendent Man is the highly acclaimed feature film on the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil that was selected by the Tribeca Film Festival, AFI, Sundance and IDFA film festivals. It went on to become the most talked about documentary of the year with appearances by myself or my subject Ray Kurzweil on Charlie Rose, Bill Maher, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Howard Stern as well as praise from top critics. It was also one of the most popular films on iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Netflix, Blockbuster and Best Buy remaining in the Top 10 on iTunes and Amazon for 12 weeks. IDA said it was one of the best documentaries of the year.